5.  The applicant was born in 1928 and lives in the town of Rossosh, in the Voronezh Region.
6.  Between 1979 and 1992 the applicant and his wife, then residents of Grozny, Chechnya, opened several savings accounts with the Grozny branch of the Chechen Savings Bank, which was an integral part of the USSR Savings Bank.
7.  In May 2000 the applicant issued civil proceedings against the Savings Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance in the Gagarinskiy District Court, Moscow, claiming damages for the fall in the value of his savings and those of his deceased wife, default interest and compensation of the deposits and non-pecuniary damage.
8.  By a judgment of 16 January 2001 the Gagarinskiy District Court granted the applicant's claims in part. The court confirmed the fact that between 1979 and 1992 the applicant and his wife had made deposits with the Grozny branch of the USSR Savings Bank and held that under governmental decree of 19 April 2000 no. 352 the applicant was eligible for compensation in the amount of 1,000 Russian roubles (RUB), approximately 30 euros (EUR) for reimbursement of expenses for the burial of his wife. Accordingly, the court ordered the defendant to pay the applicant the said amount “from the funds allocated for that purpose in the State budget for the year concerned”. The court further noted that the remainder of the applicant's claims had no basis in national law and rejected them accordingly.
9.  On 4 July 2001 the judgment of 16 January 2001 was upheld on appeal by the Moscow City Court and became final and enforceable.
10.  On 19 February 2001 the applicant was issued with a writ of execution in respect of the judgment of 16 January 2001.
11.  According to the applicant, in November 2001 he submitted the said judgment and the writ of execution to the Lukoyanov branch of the Savings Bank of Russia for enforcement, but was refused. Thereafter he applied to the bailiffs' service of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region.
12.  On 7 January 2002 the applicant moved and settled in the Voronezh Region, having notified the bailiffs of his new address.
13.  On 15 January 2002 he received a letter from the Lukoyanov branch of the Savings Bank of Russia dated 9 January 2002, which invited him to receive in person the amount due pursuant to the judgment of 16 January 2001.
14.  According to the applicant, he was unable to go to the Lukoyanov branch of the Savings Bank of Russia, as he lived 1,200 km away.
15.  On 13 February 2002 the bailiffs' service of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region returned the execution documents to the applicant. They also enclosed a letter from the Lukoyanov branch of the Savings Bank of Russia dated 11 February 2002 which stated that in connection with the warfare in the Chechen Republic and the loss of documents relating to deposits made there, the Savings Bank of Russia had taken a decision to terminate any transactions relating to deposits made with the Chechen Savings Bank until further notice. It continued that a list of former depositors of the Chechen Savings Bank was being drawn up, and that compensation would be paid to those registered on that list after the Government of Russia had taken a decision to that effect, and the Savings Bank of Russia had reached agreement with the Ministry of Finance. The letter concluded that the compensation would be paid to the applicant after the aforementioned documents had been adopted. With reference to this letter the bailiffs discontinued the enforcement proceedings and invited the applicant to request a branch of the Savings Bank of Russia near his home to put him on the list of former depositors of the Chechen Savings Bank.
16.  In the applicant's submission, he had applied to a local branch of the Savings Bank of Russia in the town of Rossosh, in the Voronezh Region, where he then lived. The bank had refused to comply with the writ of execution, stating that the Ministry of Finance had not allocated any funds for that purpose.
17.  The applicant then submitted his execution documents to the bailiffs of the Voronezh Region, who refused to institute enforcement proceedings, stating that the central office of the defendant bank was located in Moscow, outside the territory of the Voronezh Region.
18.  In a letter of 3 April 2003 the Rossosh branch of the Savings Bank of Russia notified the applicant that from 15 April 2003 the bank would commence repaying the savings deposited with the Chechen Savings Bank prior to 20 June 1991 and compensation, as provided by governmental decree of 19 February 2003 no. 117. It next stated that due to the redenomination of 1998 the remainder of the deposits would be recalculated and reduced by a factor of 1,000.
19.  On 5 and 7 May 2003 the Rossosh branch of the Savings Bank of Russia paid the applicant the remainder of his deposits and those of his late wife, made prior to 1991, with interest as well as compensation in the amount of 2,000 RUB per deposit, totalling RUB 10,317.26. He also withdrew savings with interest from one of the accounts opened in 1992, which after the redenomination amounted to RUB 21.31. The applicant also submitted the execution documents in respect of the judgment of 16 January 2001, but the bank refused to comply, having referred to the fact that the writ of execution prescribed “to recover from the Savings Bank of Russia [in the applicant's favour] compensation in the amount of RUB 1,000 from the funds allocated for that purpose in the State budget for the year concerned”. In the bank's view, “the year concerned” meant the year 2001, when the writ of execution was issued, whereas the applicant sought the enforcement of his court award in 2003, when no funds for that purpose had been allocated in the State budget.
20.  It appears that the judgment of 16 January 2001 remains unenforced.